The journals were picked up from the parents at an agreed upon date and reviewed immediately. They were often incomplete and were subsequently discussed with the parent during the second interview to obtain further information. Even with this manner of data collection, the journals offered a valuable source of revealing accounts of home activities that would have been difficult to obtain otherwise. Insight into such affective variables as attitudes and emotions, as well as parental values and beliefs about literacy practices were gained by probing the parents further about the activities they described and recording their direct quotes of sentiment.

Interview 2.

A second interview followed my transcription of the data collected in the first interview and a review of the parent's journal. The purpose was to ensure that my transcription was consistent with the parent's intention and to seek clarification or amendments where required. I also gathered additional data through a parent-child interaction which will be outlined in more detail in the next section.

I explained to the parents and their children that I would like to obtain a sample of how they spend time together. The video recordings of the parent-child interactions provided observational data from a natural environment. A parent-child interaction, believed to be the "foundation of literacy development in children" (Thomas, 1998, p. 13), was videotaped after obtaining parental approval and a signed Assent Form from the child. [A copy of this form is contained in Appendix B.]